Joseph Roth

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Occasionally a collection of letters appears that is so extraordinary in its biographical details and emotional resonance that the work becomes a classic of literature in its own right: the letters, for example, of Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway or Saul Bellow. Such is the case of the legendary Austro-Hungarian novelist and essayist, Joseph Roth, who was born in Ukraine in 1894 and died tragically in Paris in 1939. Having translated every other major Roth work including The Radetzky March, the award-winning translator Michael Hofmann presents this stunning new biography of the master novelist and legendary Euoprean journalist, told through letters. The letters span the breadth of Roth's life, from his schoolboy years - in letters to his girl cousins in the Austrian provinces - to the veteran of 44, marked by war, poverty, alcoholism, the loss of his wife through madness, and two decades of prolific work. It is a deeply moving portrait of the life of the writer as an outsider; in exile from a world he no longer recognized as his own.

Inside the heart and mind of a great writer

These letters written by Roth, and others that are written to him, paint a vivid and heart-breaking portrait of the man and the times in which he lived, spanning the period of his childhood until his death. I am particularly fond of collections of letters as they are so telling and sincere. It was also quite chilling to read his comments on Hitler's coming to power, and his accuracy of what was about to unravel across Europe.

Captivating

Michael Hofmann translated an interesting story about Roth at Ostend in 1936, where he with his friend Stefan Zweig used to stay. Nowadays, Roth's writing burns brighter than Zweig's, by that valuable quality whose value was everlasting, but also his sensible heart that determined him to become an alcoholic, reason why he died at the age of 44. Roth is mainly emphasizing his own life, and he cares less about his writing. This is one of the things that I appreciated so much in his style, that somewhat overwhelming sincerity. This is certainly a great book.